Orbán says Saturday’s bombing not connected to migration crisis

In an interview given to state television channel M1, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said there was nothing to indicate that Saturday’s explosion in Budapest was connected to the migration crisis.

“Even if it is impossible to rule this out, at this moment there is nothing to indicate this, which comes as something of a relief,” he said.

The head of government said that whatever the perpetrator’s motive, it was a cowardly deed to deliberately attack police. When asked what instructions he had given the Ministry of the Interior, he said “capture him at any price, hunt down the perpetrator, and get out of him why he did it.”

On the subject of the so-called European Union asylum-seeker settlement quota, Orbán said there are countries that do not protect themselves, as a result of which “migrants pile up in the millions”, a problem which they try to solve by distributing them. The government is opposed to an EU burden-sharing plan to temporarily settle refugees in the 28 member states while asylum applications are processed.

“The problem is not with the migrants but with Brussels,” said the prime minister, repeating his point of view that the roots of the refugee crisis need to be solved, saying “we mustn’t admit the problem to Europe.”

He said the government was not boasting that it acted properly, but a lot of energy had been invested in solving the problem. He believes that if people accustomed to living on less than USD 2 a day learn of a legal basis for a better life, they will destroy Europe and Hungary.

“I love my homeland, and I would like it to remain this way,” Orbán said, adding that Hungary was defending its right not to change.

“We like Hungary the way it is. If we wanted to change it, even then we would not give in to an external compulsory influence.”

Referring to an article that appeared in pro-government Magyar Idők today, Orbán said that if political decision makers had paid attention to warnings on the part of their state security organs that terrorists were mixing with the migrants, “they could have saved the lives of a lot of European citizens.”

He said it was necessary to defend the Balkans by building a defense line in northern Greece, but European politicians do not support this because “for sure they think that Hungary will protect them again.” He repeated that he thought a good solution would be for refugees wishing to travel to Europe to be made to wait outside the continent while countries decided whether to admit them. This, however, would require a European army, without which “a large refugee city could neither be created nor defended.”